Michael Crummey’s The Adversary has been bestowed the International Dublin Literary Award. The winner was announced by Lord Mayor of Dublin Emma Blain during a ceremony at Merrion Square.
The winner of the €100,000 Euro prize was determined by the judges Martina Devlin, Fiona Sze-Lorrain, Leonard Cassuto, and Nidhi Zak / Aria Eipe. Trinity’s Seamus Heaney Professor for Irish Writing, Chis Morash serves as the non-voting chairperson of the award.
The Adversary is set in the 19th century imaginary village Mockbeggar in Newfoundland. Crummey stated in the podcast Kobo in Conversation that “There’s a tilt in the world right now” which sees dictators whose “relationship they have with the world is transactional”. This “will to power” depicted in The Adversary shows two rival entrepreneurs locked in a cycle of revenge and violence.
Speaking to The University Times, Chris Morash said: “One of the things I really like about the award is that the nominations come from libraries all around the world”. “The machinery of publishing books is what goes into most prizes” whereas the Dublin Literary Award is a “people’s prize”. 83 Libraries from 34 different countries submitted nominations to the award.
Morash elaborated: “It’s a map of world reading. It throws out things you do not expect.”
“Crummey is from Newfoundland. The local library there always nominates a local talent. That kind of belief in local writers nurtures great talent. In Dublin, we know that the interesting writing often comes from the edges of things.”
The Wall Street Journal praised The Adversary as “a sinuous narrative in constant, elegant motion. Like the ocean tide, it ebbs and flows between past and present, action and consequence.”
Crummey is the author of seven books of poetry and a collection of short stories. He has been described as “one of Canada’s finest writers”.
Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song was one of the six books shortlisted for the prize. Fellow Irish titles longlisted for the award included Sinéad Gleeson’s Hagstone, Colm Tóibín’s Long Island, Nuala O’Connor’s Seaborne, Colin Barrett’s Wild Houses, Orla Owen’s Christ on a Bike, and John Boyne’s Water.
Previous winners of the International Dublin Literary Award include Valeria Luiselli’s The Lost Children’s Archive, Emily Ruskovich’s Idaho, and Anna Burns’ Milkman.
The International Dublin Literary Award is funded by Dublin City Council and administered by Dublin City Library.
